Manufacturing preformed counters



Aug. 20, 1963 H. G. scAMMoN MANUFACTURING PREFORMED COUNTERS INVENTOR. .figi 6. few/220mm flrr'rl' Filed Oct. 6. 1961 MMM-M United States Patent 3 160,902 MANUFACTURXNGTREFGRMED COUNTERS Henry G. Scarnmon, Auburn, Maine, assignor to Gould 8r Scalmnon, EH6. Auburn, Maine, a corporation of Marne Filed Get. 6, 1961, Ser. No. 143,480 Claims. (Cl. 12146) This invention relates to preformed counter stitfeners for use in the manufacture of shoes and to a method for making the same.

Heretofore, it has been practiced to shape a flat counter stiffener so as to correspond to the back part of the shoe and to provide an attaching flange, at its lower edge, by placing the flat blank astride a male mold which corresponds in shape to the back part of the shoe, bringing a female mold into engagement therewith to wrap it about the male mold to provide a wall corresponding in shape to the back part of the shoe, and then advancing wiping means across the projecting lower margin of the blank to bend the projecting margin substantially at right angles to the wall. Counter molding machines of the type shown in the patent granted to Bailey, No. 2,185,937, dated January 2, 1940, or a modification thereof, are currently used for preforming counters as thus described.

It is of especial importance in preforming counter stiffeners to draw the top line of the counter in along a line somewhat more constricted than the median line so that, in the finished shoe, there will be a minimum amount of gaping at the foot opening, and it is also desirable to provide an abrupt shoulder at the junction of the wall of the counter with the attaching flange, so that the counter will fit snugly into the heel seat. These attributes have been obtained by careful design of the mold parts and the wipe-rs of the aforesaid machine.

Currently a shoe-making machine style is in vogue, commonly referred to as the silhouette or Italian style, in which the back line at the heel end of the shoe slopes from the top line of the foot opening downwardly and inwardly so as to be somewhat undercutand to merge in a smooth curve with the heel seat which is smaller than that of the conventional heel. This requires reshaping the counter at the bottom line, that is, at the junction of the lower part of the wall with the heel-attaching flange. While it would be possible to build new molds for this purpose, it would involve considerable expense, hence it is the purpose of this invention to provide counters of the kind wanted, that is, with a curved shoulder at the junction of the lower part of the wall of the counter with the heel seat flange, rather than an abrupt shoulder, as heretofore made, and to provide a method and apparatus for making the same.

As herein illustrated, the premolded counter, made according to this invention, has a smoothly rounded convex shoulder at the junction of the lower part or" its wall with the heel seat attaching flange, which is produced by subjecting a flat stiffener to end and side molding operations to impart a circular curvature to the midpart of the blank and to bring the ends into parallelism, and to wiping action to fold the lower edge inwardly relative to the sides to form an attaching shoulder, in accordance with conventional practice, and after this preliminary molding and heel seat forming operation, subjecting that portion of the counter, at the junction of the wall and heel seat flange, to a die-pressing operation to reform the shoulder so as to have a substantially smooth convex contour. This is accomplished by means of apparatus comprising a rigid anvil having a substantially flat surface adapted to support the heel seat flange and a marginal edge corresponding to the contour to be imparted to the counter at the junction of the flange and wall, adapted to support the inner side of the shoulder at the junction of the wall and heel seat flange, and a die of converse shape movable into engagement with 3,1 eases Patented Aug. 20, i963 the outer side of the shoulder to reform it about the peripheral edge of the anvil. The die is supported for movement to and from the anvil, there is means in the form of an eccentric shaft for effecting such movement, and a device operable, by movement of the die as the latter is retracted from the anvil, to eject the reformed counterfrom the die.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein;

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, vertical elevation showing the male and female mold parts of a conventional countertorming machine, together with a wiper for forming the heel seat flange;

FIG. 2 is a top elevation of a counter, showing the configuration imparted thereto by the molding means shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom elevation of a counter showing the configuration imparted thereto by the molding apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the abrupt shoulder at the junction of the wall and heel seat flange of the counter shown in FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevation of the counter, partly in section, showing the shoulder at the junction of the wall and heel seat flange reformed according to this invention;

FIG. 6 is an elevation of the anvil employed for reforming the counter;

FIG. 7 is an elevation of the die which is cooperable with the anvil shown in FIG. 6 to effect reforming;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary, vertical section of the reforming apparatus showing a counter situated between the anvil and die;

FIG. 9 is an elevation of apparatus embodying the anvil and die, means for effecting movement of the die into and out of engagement with the anvil, and an ejector; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary front elevation of the appara tusshown in FIG. 9 showing the ejector.

In the conventional counter molding machine, and variations thereof, there is a male mold part 1i) having a surface 12 which corresponds to the back part and sides of the molded counter to be made, and flat faces 14a and 14b. A female mold part 16, having a surface 18 which is the converse of the surface 12, is arranged adjacent the male mold part and the two are movable into engagement. In the use of this apparatus a flat or partially bowed counter blank 0 is placed astride the male mold part 10 with its top line coinciding with the face 14b and its bot tom line projecting beyond the face 140, whereupon the mold parts are brought together to bend the blank so as to conform it to the male mold part. The projecting margin of the blank is then bent into engagement with the face 14a to form the heel seat flange, by a wiper element 20 which is moved across the face 14a. FIGS. 2 and 3 show, in top and bottom elevation, a counter which has been shaped by apparatus such as shown in FIG. 1, so that its top line 22 is somewhat more constricted than its median line, the purpose of which is to make the shoe fit close to the foot at the foot opening and so that the shoulder 26, at the junction of the flange 24 with the wall 28, is abrupt, a feature considered to be important to make the shoulder fit snugly into the heel seat.

According to this invention and for use in the so-called silhouette or Italian style shoe, it is desirable that the shoulder 26a, as shown in FIG. 5, at the junction between the flange 24a and the wall 23a be made to merge along a smooth convex curve, so that the wall will slope from the top line downwardly and inwardly along a smoothly flowing curve into the heel seat. To accomplish this, a counter, such as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, which has been molded with the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, so that the shoulder 26, at the junction of the flange 24 and wall 28, is abrupt, is subjected to a reforming operation exclusively of the medial and upper portions thereof between a rigid anvil 30and die 31, shown separately in FIGS. 6 and 7, and in cooperative position in relation to each other with a counter therebetween in FIG. 8. The anvil30 is fastened to a rigid base 34, for example, by means of screws 36 and has a substantially flat upper surface 38, the marginal edge 40 of which merges with 7 shown, in dotted lines (FIG. 8), the preformed counter c is placed astride the anvil 3'0 with the heel seat flange resting upon the upper surface 38 of the anvil, with the inner side of the shoulder at the junction of the heel seat flange with the wall extending downwardly over the shoulder at its'peripheral edge and with its wall extending beyond the lower surface of the anvil. Only a very small portion of the counter, to wit, that which is at the junction is actually exposed to reforming pressure so that the balance of the counter and, in particular, the medial and upper por-tionsof the wall of the counter are not in anyway subjected to reforming. Preferably the die 31 is brought down onto the anvil 30' in such a manner as to strike the outer surface of the shoulder a sharp blow as is conventionally done to upset metal in dieing operations, in contrast to a gradual forming pressure such as is endployed in counter molding machines described above. Pressure alone doesnot suflice unless applied for so long a time as to be impractical. The effect of a blow is to reform the shoulder to the shape desired, as shown in FIG. 5, quickly and without in any way destroying the contour previously imparted to the upper part of the counter and the top line.

To facilitate removing the reforming counter a rod 52 (FIGS. 9 and 10) is pivotally mounted at 54 on the machine with its upper end 56 disposed in the path of a pin 58 fixed to the shaft 50. The lower end of the rod 52 has a forwardly projecting finger 60 adapted to strike a lever 62 as the die 31 is elevated to tip it forwardly as viewed in FIG. 9. The lever 62 is fixed to one end of a shaft 64, supported in bearings 66-66. An ejector finger 68 is fixed to the shaft 64 so as to project upwardly at the inner side of the counter when the latter is placed astride the anvil. Forward movement of the finger 60 as the'die is elevated rocksthe finger 68 forwardly thus pushing or Zejeoting the counter from the anvil.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of making a formed counter having a smooth convex shoulder at the junction of its wall with the heel seat flange comprising, subjecting a preformed counter having an abrupt shoulder at the junction of its wall with the heel seat flange to reforming by impact applied to the outer side of the shoulder while the inner side is rigidly backed by a surface of the desired contour.

2. The method of making a formed counter having a smooth convex-shoulder at the junction of its wall with the heel seat flange comprising, subjecting a preformed counter having an abrupt shoulder at the junction of its wall with the heel seat flange to reforming by supporting the counter, at the inner side of the heel seat flange adjacent the shoulder, on a rigid curved surface of the desired configuration, and then striking the exterior side of the shoulder a blow.

3. The method of making a formed counter having a smooth convex shoulder at the junction of its wall with the heel sea-t flange comprising, subjecting a preformed counter having an abrupt shoulder at the junction of the .and then striking the outer side of the shoulder a blow with a device having a curved surface which is converse I of the anvil.

4. The method of making a formed counter having a smooth convex shoulder at the junction of its wall with the heel seat flange comprising, subjecting a preformed counter having an abrupt shoulder at the junction of the Wall with the heel seat flange to reforming by supporting the counter, at the inner side of the heel seat flange adjacent the shoulder, on an anvil having a rigid curved surface at its peripheral edge of the desired configuration, and striking the exterior side of the shoulder a blow with a die having a curved surface which is the converse of the anvil.

5. A method of reforming a preformed counter having an abrupt shoulder at the junction of its wall with the heel seat flange comprising: providing a preformed counter; providing supporting means having a rigid, curved surface at its peripheral edge of a desired configuration for supporting said preformed counter at said abrupt shoulder; providing means having a curved surface which is the converse of said first-mentioned means in opposition thereto; placing the preformed counter between said supporting means and said second-mentioned means; and providing means for effecting movement of the secondmentioned means to cause the latter to strike the exterior side of said abrupt shoulder ofthe counter a blow to effect reforming of the counter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7,708 Kimball May 29, 1877 304,144 Spinney Aug. 26, 1884 1,743,534 Dodge Jan. 14, 1930 1,825,964 Lancey Oct. 6, 1931 1,903,050 Jordan Mar. 28,1933 2,166,888 I Bailey et al. July 18, 1939 2,235,086 Russell Mar. 18, 1941 2,319,356 Sullivan May 18, 1943 2,365,795 Ashley Dec. 26, 1944 2,433,318 Chamberlain Dec. 23, 1947 2,468,927 Garyait May 3, 1949 2,483,520 Blake Oct. 4, 1949 2,499,783 Scharffenberg Mar. 7, 1950 2,877,571 Davis Mar. 17, 1959 2,935,753 Heaton May 10, 1960 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING A FORMED COUNTER HAVING A SMOOTH CONVEX SHOULDER AT THE JUNCTION OF ITS WALL WITH THE HEEL SEAT FLANGE COMPRISING, SUBJECTING A PREFORMED COUNTER HAVING AN ABRUPT SHOULDER AT THE JUNCTION OF ITS WALL WITH THE HEEL SEAT FLANGE TO REFORMING BY IMPACT APPLIED TO THE OUTER SIDE OF THE SHOULDER WHILE THE INNER SIDE IS RIGIDLY BACKED BY A SURFACE OF THE DESIRED CONTOUR. 